the first year was 2011 when minnesota congresswoman and eventual presidential candidate michele bachmann gave not the republican party response, but the tea party republican response to the republican response to president obama's state of the union while making meaningful eye contact with something other than the camera that was pointed at her. that was the first one. the year after that, the tea party republican response to the republican response to the state of the union was given by pizza company executive herman cain. >> and so i say in response on behalf of the tea party and citizens people across this country, with all due respect, mr. president, some of us are not stupid. the state of the union is not good. >> the hermanator, the response responses. less you think the 2012 election changed anything in republican party politics, in case all the anti-abortion legislation in the states has not been persuasive enough, in case the reelection of party chairman reince priebus by acclimation is not persuasive enough, in case the persistent efforts at the state level to make voting harde